Blowing Out the Flame
by somewhereinthedreams
Summary: Sometimes things are better left unsaid.


**A/N: This is set some point after Season 1, I purposefully left it vague. This could also be set during/after Season 2 or 3.**

 **I wrote five ficlets/oneshots based on a list of prompts from tumblr. This is the first.**

 **Prompt: things you said when you were drunk from MrsCuddles**

* * *

"I used to be so in love with you," Mike confessed before taking a drink from his beer.

Paige froze, sure her ears were playing tricks on her. She and Mike had a longstanding unspoken agreement to never talk about what they meant to each other. What they were. What they couldn't be. It was the only way they could co-exist in the same house.

They were friends now. Roommates. Colleagues. Exes.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Paige squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that when she opened them, Mike would be gone. Then she wouldn't have to deal with any of the feelings she had buried a long time ago.

Her eyes opened and there he was. Leaning against a rock, with his knees drawn to his chest, carefully watching her. A beer bottle, dangling from his hand. The beach was scattered with empties. Their roommates were long gone, and somehow they got left with the task of cleaning up after tonight's bonfire.

Paige ignored his comments as she continued gathering the empty bottles in a bag. Against her better judgment, she approached Mike to gather the empty bottles near him. Paige picked up the bottles, grateful that Mike hadn't said another word. As she started to walk past him, he stopped her by grabbing her wrist. "I'm cleaning up."

"You heard me," Mike murmured, rubbing his thumb along her wrist.

"You're drunk," Paige whispered, blinking back tears. "You don't know what you're saying."

That was all this was. The ramblings of someone drunk. She was giving Mike an out. He just needed to take it and things could go back to how they were before.

They were friends. Roommates. Colleagues. Exes.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Not hopelessly in love with each other, but too stubborn to actually admit it. That was a long time ago. Mike had no right to go stirring up the past.

Mike set down his beer bottle in the sand next to him, but didn't release her wrist. He looked up at her, his eyes slightly glazed over, but she could see the certainty in his stubborn stare. "There are a lot of things you can tell me. You can tell me that you're over me. That you don't want to be with me. That you never loved me. Maybe that's all true. Maybe it isn't. But you don't get to tell me what I feel."

Paige jerked her hand away from him, stumbling slightly and she ended up in the sand next to him. Mike reached a hand out to steady her, but his reaction was delayed so instead of stopping her from stumbling, his hand grazed along her back. "Don't do this," Paige whispered.

She couldn't do this. Them being together nearly destroyed them both. She couldn't open herself up to him again. He thought he loved her. Thought love would be enough. But he was wrong. She didn't deserve his love after the things she had done. Each time he told her how she felt, she handed his heart back to him. They were toxic together. She would destroy him if given the chance _and_ that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Things were better this way. They were in each other's lives. They had each other's back. They could work together and not have to worry about their emotions clouding their judgment. This was how it had to be.

Mike continued watching her, slowly trailing his hand up her arm. He pushed her hair out of her face and she shivered from his touch. It had been so long since he had touched her like this. Too long.

Mike softly whispered her name as he moved to cup her face. "If you could only see what I see," Mike said.

Paige closed her eyes, tears silently streaming down her face. What he saw. Part of him was still going to see the girl he saw up on stage, singing karaoke the night they met. But that wasn't her. That was never her. It was some idealized version of her that never existed.

Mike stubbornly kissed her and as tempted as she was to give in, she didn't kiss him back. She ignored the spark she felt. Ignored how alive she felt with his lips on hers.

It was over as soon as it began and when she opened her eyes, Mike was sitting back against the rock and lifting his beer to his lips like nothing had happened.

Furious, Paige leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. "You don't get to do that to me." Mike didn't get to suddenly decide it was okay to kiss her and think they could go back to how things were before. That wasn't how it worked. That was exactly _why_ they never talked about the past. But now that he had stirred things up, she couldn't pretend that he hadn't kissed her. Couldn't pretend he didn't say what he said. He didn't get to make that decision for her.

"Do what?" Mike asked, circling his hands around her waist as he pulled her onto his lap. He teased her with several short kisses and she felt all her control slipping away as her body melded against his.

"I'll destroy you," Paige whispered against his lips. "I don't want to, but I will."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

THE END


End file.
